Fatal crash re-created in Metrolink analysis

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Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board conduct a
test Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2008, to determine when the engineers of two
trains were able to see each other in the moments before a head-on
crash that killed 25 people in the Chatsworth area of Los Angeles on
Friday. The visibility test involving stand-in engines was part of the
ongoing investigation into the crash between a Metrolink commuter
train and a Union Pacific freight train. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

The Metrolink engineer who ran his commuter train into an oncoming freight was in the midst of a 11-1/2-hour shift when he ran a red light and failed to break before the deadly collision, federal investigators said Tuesday.

The findings followed tests by the National Transportation Safety Board that showed engineers from the two trains had only four to five seconds to react to the sight of another train coming around the bend. Investigators said the engineer from the Union Pacific freight braked about two seconds before the collision, which killed 25 people and injured more than 135 others on Friday afternoon.

Robert Sanchez, the Metrolink engineer who died in the crash, began his shift at 6 that morning, took a nap during a 3-1/2-hour break and resumed duty at 2 p.m., officials said. His train crashed about 2-1/2 hours later.

“Our investigators have said split schedules are something of great concern to us,” said Kitty Higgins, an NTSB board member. “But whether that played a role in the accident is much too early to say.”

The NTSB has determined the signals and tracks were working properly before the collision, and officials have narrowed their investigation to human error. The agency has subpoenaed Sanchez’s cell phone records to determine whether he was text messaging before the crash, and on Tuesday investigators interviewed the Metrolink conductor about Sanchez.

Higgins said the conductor claimed Sanchez told him he took a two-hour nap during his break but was not aware of any other factors that could have caused him to overlook the red light.

“He was not aware of any physical ailment that the engineer had,” Higgins said. “He had no information on any medication (Sanchez) may have been taking. He had no issues in his time of working with the engineer on the way he operated the train.”

Higgins said the conductor confirmed that he and Sanchez did not call out and confirm the last two signals before the crash. She also said Sanchez routinely worked a split shift, from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. with a break in between.

Meanwhile, rail service resumed Tuesday along the tracks where the crash occurred.

An Amtrak Surfliner was the first passenger train to use the newly repaired stretch of tracks, leaving the nearby Chatsworth station about

3:45 p.m. PDT. It was followed about a half-hour later by a Metrolink train.

Only a few people boarded Metrolink 111 in Chatsworth. Just three passengers sat in the first car, the compartment that suffered the most damage in Friday’s deadly collision. Among them was Sal Garcia, a regular rider on the route who said he had been sick Friday and stayed home.

“It was really emotional. I sat down and started to cry, and that made me feel a lot better,” Garcia said.

Hours before service resumed, investigators conducted a visibility test to determine when the engineers involved the crash would have been able to see each other in the moments before the nation’s deadliest rail disaster in 15 years.

A Metrolink train and a Union Pacific locomotive were brought nose to nose on the tracks where the crash occurred. Investigators then backed the stand-in trains away from each other.

In the moments before the collision, the freight train had exited a tunnel, while the commuter train was rounding a horseshoe bend. The test found the engineers had only seconds to react.